GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go

GHSA-8mxv-9xhp-86h4 rclone: S3 Redirect Sanitization Omits IBM IAM Bearer Tokens and SSE-C Keys

MEDIUM Published 2026-08-05 Modified 2026-08-05 Official page ↗
Ecosystem
Go
Packages
github.com/rclone/rclone
Severity
Moderate
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weaknesses
CWE-200, CWE-319, CWE-522
Reviewed
2026-08-05

Affected packages

• Go github.com/rclone/rclone: < 1.75.0 → fixed in 1.75.0

Description

1. Summary The S3 redirect callback strips `X-Amz-Security-Token` when a redirect changes scheme or host, but it does not strip IBM IAM bearer authorization or customer-provided encryption keys. Two independently validated paths remain: • a same-host HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect preserves `Authorization: Bearer ...` and exposes a reusable IBM IAM token to the plaintext network path; • a cross-origin redirect preserves SSE-C and copy-source SSE-C key headers. The High rating is driven by the reusable IBM IAM bearer token. The SSE-C cross-origin disclosure is a secondary confidentiality issue. The meaningful threat is a trusted endpoint, gateway, or accelerator that emits an unsafe redirect, followed by an adjacent/on-path observer; describing the originally configured endpoint itself as the attacker would be weak because that endpoint already receives the request secrets. 2. Affected Assets & Attack Surface • S3 redirect policy: `backend/s3/s3.go:1345-1379` • IBM IAM signer: `backend/s3/ibm_signer.go:28-40` • SSE-C key preparation: `backend/s3/s3.go:1821-1837` • Affected operations: requests carrying IBM IAM authorization, SSE-C keys, or copy-source SSE-C keys • Confirmed affected version: `<= v1.74.0-240-ga0c09f138` 3. Technical Root Cause Analysis `s3CheckRedirect` applies a one-header denylist: ```go if s3RedirectCrossesHost(req, via) { req.Header.Del("X-Amz-Security-Token") } ``` Go removes `Authorization` on some hostname changes, but preserves it for a same-host redirect and does not treat a scheme downgrade as sufficient reason to remove it. Go also has no generic knowledge that the SSE-C headers contain raw encryption keys. The rclone callback recognizes the STS token but not these additional origin-bound secrets. 4. Proof-of-Concept & Evidence Using the actual redirect callback: 1. An HTTPS endpoint redirected to HTTP on the same hostname. 2. The plaintext destination received the planted IBM bearer token and SSE-C headers. 3. A separate redirect to an unrelated hostname caused Go to remove `Authorization`, but the destination still received both SSE-C key headers. 4. In both cases, rclone removed the planted STS token, proving that the S3-specific callback executed while omitting the other secret classes. The related GHSA-gx4c-2hqx-cw2r covers the STS downgrade path and confirms that rclone treats scheme changes as a credential boundary. It does not cover the IBM bearer or SSE-C variants retained here. 5. Impact Assessment A captured IBM bearer token can authorize reads, writes, and deletes within its IAM scope. A disclosed SSE-C key can expose corresponding ciphertext available to the recipient; copy-source keys can expose protected source objects. The exact impact is limited by token policy and the attacker's access to encrypted objects. 6. Remediation Guidance • Reject every HTTPS-to-HTTP redirect before replay. • Do not automatically follow secret-bearing cross-origin redirects. • On any scheme, host, or effective-port change, remove all authorization, cookies, session tokens, SSE-C fields, copy-source SSE-C fields, and provider-specific credentials. • Where redirects are required, allowlist exact destinations and reconstruct/re-sign a new request. • Add redirect tests for every secret header class and for scheme, hostname, subdomain, and port changes.

Related

Weakness · CWE (3)

  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor weakness
  • CWE-319 Cleartext Transmission of Sensitive Information weakness
  • CWE-522 Insufficiently Protected Credentials weakness

References